Attainable Adventure Cruising—What's New

A practical foredeck with a range of mooring options


Those of us with aspirations to cruise in higher latitudes tend to focus on obviously important kit – sails, ground tackle, engine – but sometimes at the expense of simpler and less apparent elements. For example, some of our time will still be spent in port, but that almost certainly won’t be the sort of haven we’re used to in more developed areas. Over the years a few fishing ports have put in small pontoons that yachts may be permitted to use, but as often as not if you are seeking shelter from bad weather (and you will be, at some stage) it will mean rafting up with fishing vessels and work boats. And here it will be just as important to be prepared for port as it would be for an exposed anchorage.

Production boats these days tend to be designed for marina dwelling, not mixing it up with the big boys – mooring cleats that are too few and too small with inadequate fairleads, and often poorly secured to the deck. A bad night in a small fishing port with a big storm surge finding its way around the corner will soon find any weaknesses. And when FV “Cruncher” arrives with an exhausted crew at 0300 and berths alongside you, will they be able to spot your cleats, or even drop one of their hefty lines around one? If not, look out, as they will have to make fast to whatever is most obvious, and not necessarily what you might have chosen.

The answer is to scale up accordingly, both above and below deck. For our new boat, we have specified oversized welded cleats, and added a huge additional pair in the bow, where from previous experience we know we’ll need them. We have no fairleads, simply wide and open access to the cleats, allowing all angle attachment. Extra cleats also allow one warp for one job, essential when additional warps such as shore lines are required.

At least a couple of really long warps are essential, especially in areas with a high rise and fall of tide, to make fast to bollards or rings on the pier. Robust protectors for these (we use reinforced loo pipe) where they pass over the edge of the pier, will stop chafe devouring them in a few hours. We’ve even seen warps with chain ends for this purpose, and didn’t think that was overkill at all.

A must is a robust fender board, especially when alongside vertical pilings, allowing the fenders to remain in place. It is possible to link sausage fenders into a horizontal daisy chain in normal conditions, but once your boat starts to surge back and forth, nothing but a fender board will do – they are also ideal when alongside barnacle encrusted jetties, too.

Our boat is also having a welded, unpainted rubbing strake just below deck level, for those unfortunate moments when a fender slips out of place, and the topsides grind against a dock, which should save paint and pride in equal measure.

For when the storm hits, you’re on your own, and preparation for every eventuality is vital. And if you have made everything as strong as it needs to be, with the gear to back it up, then you will be ready to face the challenge, confident that you and your precious boat will still be there in the morning.

Our new boat - welded everything!

Aluminium has many obvious attributes as a construction material – high strength to weight, durability, lack of maintenance – but there are other, subtler benefits that aluminium can be offer, especially if starting from scratch. Careful thought at the planning stage to take advantage of that potential is time well spent.

It is an easy material to work in. Louise has just returned from France where she has inspected our boat at the completion of welding. From start to finish it has taken around six weeks from a pile of plate to a finished hull and deck. She was also able to view the completed joinery waiting to be dropped into place. This is, in effect, “furniture”, and not structural, a benefit in terms its long term integrity, as well as ease of access for periodic inspection of the hull or in the event of any structural damage that might necessitate welding. It also demonstrates how an aluminium yacht in the hands of the right builder need not end up being colossally expensive.

Aluminium lends itself to one-off design internally too. In a GRP yacht the position of bulkheads is still to some degree dictated by their structural role, making the interior layout far less flexible. With aluminium, bulkheads, heads units and so forth can in theory be wherever you like. The only limiting factor for us is the factory philosophy of limited modification at sensible cost – but if we had wanted a custom built interior, we’d have to be prepared to pay for it, so we’re very happy with what we’re getting.

The OVNI has a number of features that make good use of the potential of aluminium construction. All tanks (fuel and water) are integral and welded into the hull, and have removable plates to enable cleaning and internal inspection. All of the lead ballast (3.5 Tonnes) is encapsulated in plastic and then plated in to the bilges. In the event of the hull being pierced in any of these areas, only a tank or a ballast chamber will be breached, hopefully averting a potential loss. At our request the builders extended the forward bulkhead behind the anchor locker to full depth, welded and watertight, giving us a crash bulkhead against collision with any floating objects – that ought to help us sleep easier!

Where we have really tried to exploit the benefits of alloy construction is on deck. Our motto is, “if it can move - weld it”. Not just from the point of view of structural integrity, but also to avoid leaks and corrosion caused by dissimilar metals where fittings have been screwed or bolted on. So all grab rails (and we have plenty), dorade vents and tangs for deck gear are welded. We have also had fitted welded breakwaters around both forward hatches to protect the seals from deck sweeping seas, as well as a solid breakwater where the cockpit dodger will be mounted. All have been easy and cheap to achieve at this stage of the build – the watertight bulkhead, complete with inspection hatch cost around $300, for example. An additional anchor stern roller in line with a sheet winch was easily incorporated, a simple custom boat hook holder mounted on the stern arch, tangs for webbing davits – simple things, but worthwhile we feel, all adding in their own way to a functional, sturdy, and (hopefully!) leak proof home.